Country Studies / Holidays / May Spring Festival

MAY SPRING FESTIVAL

The 1^st of May has also to some extent retained its old significance – that of a pagan spring festival. In ancient times it used to be celebrated with garlands and flowers, dancing and games on the village green. A Maypole was erected – a tall pole wreathed with flowers, to which in later times ribbons were attached and held by the dancers. The girls put on their best summer frocks, plaited flowers in their hair and round their waists and eagerly awaited the crowning of the May Queen. The most beautiful girl was crowned with a garland of flowers. After this great event there was dancing, often Morris dancing, with the dancers dressed in fancy costume, usually representing characters in the Robin Hood legend. May-Day games and sports were followed by refreshments in the open.

This festival was disliked by the Puritans and suppressed during the Commonwealth, 1649-60. After the Restoration it was revived but has gradually almost died out. However, the Queen of May is still chosen in most counties, and in many villages school Maypoles are erected around which the children dance. The famous ceremony of the meeting of the 1^st of May still survives at oxford, in Magdalen College. At 6 o’clock in the morning the college choir gathers in the upper gallery of the college tower to greet the coming of the new day with song.

MERRY ENGLAND AND LONDON MAY QUEEN FESTIVAL

Visitors from many parts of the world are among the thousands of people who gather on the Common at Hayes, near Bromley, Kent, to witness the Crowning of London’s May Queen. It is the largest May Queen Festival in Britain and over a thousand children take part. The date is the second Saturday in May. The procession forms up in the village about 1.30 p.m. and makes its way to the Common by way of the village church. The actual crowning takes place about 3 p.m. As many as forty May Queens from different parts of the country are present, and with their attendants present a colourful spectacle. Their dresses are beautifully made, with a distinctive colour scheme for almost all the different Realms. The Festival has been held since 1880.